Isaiah

Article “True Fasting and Unwilling Hunger (Isaiah 58)”, Mercedes L. García Bachmann dissects the 58th chapter of Isaiah to find the true meaning and application of the Hebrew text. Through this dissection, she concludes that YhWh condemns the ritual fasting the religious leaders were performing and instead demands a sacrifice leading to justice for the oppressed in society. To start, Bachmann examines the context surrounding Isaiah 58. This chapter from Isaiah belongs to the third segment of…

When Jesus was announced as the Messiah, there were so many different views of what he was to accomplish within the culture. Many expect a conquering king, a deliverer from the Roman empire but Jesus actions did not line up with their views. To help the new Christian believer, the writers of Luke and Matthew offer their perspective of what the Messiah and the Kingdom of God represented. In Luke 1:46-55, the evangelist emphasizes the song of Mary, the Magnificat, to detail the mind of Mary, the…

passed our joy is passed. However, for Isaiah joy or rejoice was the state that God promised that His would experience. Can you image a state of joy or rejoicing in the middle of your troubles? In this passage, we also have to clarify the word peace. To our modern ears, we always hear the word peace in contrast to war. If you turn the news on…

Judgment: Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Revelations “Judgment means vindication and liberation for the oppressed and destitute” (Sakenfeld, 458). In the biblical text, the one who is the highest judge and righteous ruler, is the God of Israel (Sakenfeld, 458). Being a just God, He specifically protects the poor and deprived. As it shows in Isaiah 41:17, “The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, Their tongues fail for thirst. I, the LORD, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake…

In When the Kings Come Marching In, Mouw draws together the themes of eschatology and a Christian view of culture. Mouw uses Isaiah 60 to examine the religious transformation of culture. Isaiah uses strong word pictures to envision the transformation of the city of Jerusalem that is to come. This future city of Jerusalem is very similar to John’s vision of the Holy City in Revelation 21 and 22. Mouw points…

ends chapter 10 by telling of the necessity of the return of Israel back to the Lord. However, Paul’s dilemma is with Israel’s blindness to the truth. “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1). B. That with the salvation of the Gentiles, Israel will become a nation – who will come back to the Lord - in their jealousy. Thus, the whole world will have heard the good news that is mighty to save: “But I ask, have they not…

(Isaiah 28:9). We must grow into spiritual maturity by eating the meat of God’s Word and leaving the milk behind. In fact, in many churches, you not only get the milk bottle, but in many cases, it is sour milk. Many Christians and even preachers are exposed to those who know better, as we see them drinking the milk, teaching the milk, and choking on the meat when it comes to “precept must be upon precept.” Our reasoning for this is that if they did apply all the scriptures in the entire Bible to…

narrator and Roderick. The narrator then proceeded to flee the scene, just as the women and men at the tomb of Christ did (Cook 32). The prophet Isaiah said that, “He will swallow up death in victory.” By rising from the “dead”, Madeline symbolizes how God will defeat death and make the “dead men live together with their dead bodies…that dwell in the dust (Isaiah 25:8, 26:19)” (Cook…

virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, NIV). “Since this is a prophecy concerning a future virgin birth, it is claimed that church “created” the virgin birth in order for the prophecy fulfillment to take place. (Cords of His Love: Three Critical Views Regarding the Virginal Conception, 2010). The problem that we run into with this account is that Isaiah 7:14 was not interpreted in the first century referring to the virginal conception.…

Before embarking on a missionary journey to the Hellenized Jews in Syria and Celicia, Paul asked his companion and assistant, Timothy, the son of a Jewish-Christian mother and Greek father, to be circumcised (Acts 16). On a separate occasion, before visiting the church in Jerusalem, "not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek" (Galatians 2: 3). Was Paul contradicting himself? Of course not! True to character, Paul had shrewdly put his first…